Asked by: Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate on 20 March (HL5840), what annual returns they have received regarding conservation covenant agreements made under section 117(3)(b) and (c) of the Environment Act 2021 to conserve land for reasons of archaeological, architectural, artistic or historic interest.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under section 136 of the Environment Act 2021, a designated responsible body must make an annual return to the Secretary of State. This return must include the number of conservation covenants under which an obligation was owed to the responsible body during the reporting period, along with the area of land to which each covenant relates.
As part of the first annual return to Defra by 31st of March 2025, where responsible bodies were able to provide additional information regarding the type of covenant, they reported 43 covenants that conserve the natural environment. No covenants were reported that conserve land, or the setting of the land, as a place of archaeological, architectural, artistic, cultural or historic interest.
Asked by: Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many conservation covenant agreements under section 117(3)(b) and (c) of the Environment Act 2021 have been made since that Act came into force.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Conservation covenants are private, voluntary agreements between a landowner and a designated responsible body. Under section 136 of the Environment Act 2021, a designated responsible body must make an annual return to the Secretary of State. This return must include the number of conservation covenants under which an obligation was owed to the responsible body during the reporting period, along with the area of land to which each covenant relates. The deadline for responsible bodies to submit their first annual return to Defra is 31 March 2025.
Asked by: Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to invite utility companies to contribute appropriately to Flood and Coastal Resilience Partnership Funding schemes when their assets and infrastructure would directly benefit from such schemes.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Defra’s current partnership funding policy encourages financial contributions towards flood defence schemes from all beneficiaries, including utility companies.
Utility companies are responsible for the resilience of their supplies. The 2016 National Flood Resilience Review requires utility companies to develop plans for permanently improving resilience of service provision from the most severe flood events.